Closed Rockford car dealership has potential as geopolicing site

ROCKFORD — The city may have found a site for one of three potential police district stations for the planned switch to geopolicing.

Greg Stanley

ROCKFORD — The city may have found a site for one of three potential police district stations for the planned switch to geopolicing.

The City Council gave the go-ahead Monday to buy the former Fran Kral auto dealership on Third Street near City Hall for $400,000.

The 1.7-acre property includes surrounding parking lots that border North Second, East State and Market streets. City officials plan to open the lots to the public and nearby businesses.

There’s no use planned for the building yet, but it has the potential for a district station, City Administrator Jim Ryan said.

“It’s certainly in the mix in terms of analyzing that facility,” he said.

Under geopolicing, officers and their supervisors would be assigned to one of three districts instead of all working out of the downtown Public Safety Building. The switch to geopolicing has been debated at City Hall for more than four years.

The goal is for police officers to get to know their communities well by being assigned to keep a specific area of the city safe, and for their superiors to have more flexibility to solve area-specific problems.

The officers union and some aldermen oppose geopolicing, saying it would shift resources to building costs instead of putting more officers on the street.

Aldermen, frustrated that the administration hadn’t provided a clear analysis of the cost of geopolicing, held up passage of the city’s annual budget in February. It passed several weeks later, when aldermen spelled out a requirement for a full analysis of the financial impact of the switch before spending any money on it.

The administration has not yet presented that analysis. Officials are still comparing the feasibility of remodeling city-owned buildings for stations or leasing from private owners, Mayor Larry Morrissey said.

“We’re interested in the overall life-cycle cost in any of the sites for district policing,” he said. “We want the approach that will bring the best value and support our needs.”

The car dealership closed at the end of 2012.

Getting nearly two acres of parking space to go along with the building was a bargain, Ryan said.

The property was assessed at $458,000, City Attorney Patrick Hayes said.

Sunil LLC, an offshoot of development firm First Rockford Group, negotiated a deal for $400,000 with owner Fran Kral. Sunil LLC offered its contract position to the city, stepping aside for the city to buy it.